As it was a glorious sunny day and the river was nearby I had a couple of hours chucking a feeder into it. A few maggots, turning to casters, and some hemp all left over from last week were to be used up. One thing that puzzled me was the bank side vegetation had been nibbled at but there were no beats in the filed. Nor had there been for sometime. This was solved as I tackled up the feeder rod. Three cygnets swim up and when I offered them nowt they started munch on the vegetation before making their way up stream. Strangely there were no adults in sight. It's not very often I've seen cygnets with out the adults before they get their adult plumage.
First drop in with the feeder and the tip shot round. A cute little minnow being the first fish of the day. A couple more followed all producing positive tugs on the tip. The little roach that followed only managed to produce a pathetic rattle on the tip.
How these little things get a size 16 and double maggot in their mouths I don't know. A few more of them followed. The final minnow of the session was grabbed by something as I wound in. Not a pike but a 1lb perch had taken it for a change. Amazingly the slightly battered minnow was still on the hook and swam away when released. Another smaller perch followed a couple of casts later. The a steady procession of gudgeon then followed.
During the lull that followed a family of swans swam sedately upstream.
Followed a little later by a cygnet that seemed to be desperately trying to catch them up.
With about half an hour to go before I had to be away a shoal of decent dace showed up in the swim. I'd had fourteen of them before with ten minutes to go. While I was checking the time on the phone I put the rod on the rest with the chewed maggots dangling a few inches below the surface. I saw the swirl as a little jack took a fancy to them. I didn't mess about, bundling it into the net as quick as I could. This brought proceedings to an end as it must have bitten through the line while in the net. No point in retackling now as I couldn't be late for my appointment.
Not a bad little session sat in a t-shirt watching a quiver tip bounce about.
A trip to one of the deeper sections of a local river was the plan for Friday. In order to avoid the bleak and minnows that normally pester you down there I intended to fish sweetcorn over groundbait. After a bit of balsam bashing to create a swim I got set up. Plumbing up showed the swim to be just over fourteen foot deep. Because of the downstream wind my usual bolo style slider was ruled out in favour of a three and a half gram peacock waggler.
While I mixed up the ground bait I tossed out a feeder rod with some hemp in a blockend feeder. Having mixed up the groundbait I wound in to find a tiny dace had managed to hook itself. I chucked it out again having thrown in several balls of groundbait. I'd just finished setting up the float rig when the tip whacked round. In came a feisty little chub.
I continued on with the feeder for a while longer but attracted nothing else. I then changed to the float. It was quite a while before I got my first bite. A respectable roach. Another one followed next cast. Followed by another three of four casts later. I had eleven over the next ninety minutes before things went quiet. I tossed out some more groundbait and let things settle while I had a cuppa as it was now rather worm and sunny. Even the wind, which was getting stronger, was rather warm. The bites came a bit quicker over the next couple of hours with eighteen similar sized roach coming to the net before things went quiet again.
The last of the groundbait was tossed out and after another cuppa I trotted the float down again. The float had barely settled when it shot away. At first it felt like I'd hooked a small pike but it turned out to be a rather large perch which came adrift just beyond the net. I continued on for another half hour with out any more bites on the float. I tied the feeder for a whole but nowt was happening. Time to pack up I thought. Not a bad haul and a lot more pleasant than striking at maggot stealing minnows and bleak.
I had a careful look at the river levels Friday morning after the heavy rain on Thursday. Te little river intended to fish had risen a foot overnight but had since dropped about six inches and was still falling so should be OK. Looking from the bridge when i arrived an colour there had been seemed to have dropped out of it. This time I headed downstream instead of up like last time. I soon found a nice looking swim, but the descent into it was a bit dodgy on the wet grass. I set up the float rod with a quick depth finding rig and made my way down. I didn't want to get all the tackle down there and find some sort of snag filled hell hole. Luckily there seemed to be a nice smooth run, so the rest of the tackle was brought down. As I sorted myself out noticed a bit of mono on the bank a bit down from me. It turned out to be three log lengths of heavy (barbel?) stuff. This wasn't a snap off it was clearly dumped. Why?
After the tidy up I set up a feeder rod and a float rod with a 4x4 stick float. The plumbing had shown the swim to be a bit over eight foot deep. The float was shotted shirt button style. I was going to be fishing maggot over hemp for what ever turned up.
First cast and the float failed to settle. In came a tiny little bleak. Not wishing to contend with them I bulked the shot a couple of foot above the hook. Next cast I avoided the bleak but ended up with a equally tiny roach. Third cast The float got half way down the swim before disappearing. Another tiny fish that I thought was a leaf at first. A gudgeon this time.
Just after I swung the gudgeon in fish scattered throughout the swim. Damned pike. I continued to feed hemp and maggot but didn't get a bit for a good forty minutes. When I did it was from a good fish. Just as I got it to the surface a huge mouth grabbed what looked like a chub of around two pound. What looked to be a good double figure pike shot at great speed into the tree roots downstream. I chucked the feeder rod out as I rerigged. The tip went over not long after I tightened up. A perch that imagined it was a lot bigger was swung out so as to avoid the pike following it. That turned out to be the last pike I saw. The next fish was a hand sized roach.
I had very few bites on the feeder, which I'd left out while I had lunch. After lunch I resumed with the float. With constant feeding. I started to get a decent run of fish. Not quite one every cast but steady none the less. I've no idea how many I caught or what they weighed but it wasn't a bad afternoon at all considering how hot and bright it was.
The only reason I stopped was that i had to be elsewhere. The bites, typically, were getting better and more frequent. One problem, of my own making, was I but my phone on the side tray causing it to over heat again. Placing it in the shade under the seat cooled it enough for the final photo. The heat had, however, corrupted the memory card and It took me several hours to sort things out and get the photos off the phone. Several were corrupt and couldn't be rescued though. I think I should take an ice pack to place it on.
Fifth day of the river season and the fourth river. Two days since I got a new brolly and I've been lucky enough not to have to us it. The venue has steps cut in the bank and platforms at the bottom. All very nice but the steps could be smaller and the platforms bigger. Even so It'll do. I had a cast round with the Deeper. I found just under four foot by the side of the weeds on the nearside and eleven and a half foot a third of the way across. One rod with a 4xNo6 wire stemmed stick float and the fifteen footer with a 4g bolo float.
I started on the inside line flicking some maggots in and trotting the float as close as possible to the weeds with out snagging. I got plenty of chewed maggots before bringing in a little bleak. While I like to see the return of bleak to the river they can be a damned nuisance. Especially when small. After two or three of them I got a small perch then some tiny dace and chublets. The problem was most of the time I just ended up with chewed maggots. While this was going on I'd been firing hemp and maggots out to the far swim.
I gave the far swim a try and after a few trots down managed a decent perch before a couple of boats came past from opposite directions. Both swims went quiet, so I had a cuppa. When I lifted the long rod out, having finished my cuppa, a little perch had taken a liking to the chewed maggots. The inside line was still full of tiny little bleak and like, so back out on the Far line. It was a fish a chuck for half a dozen casts. All reasonable sized roach, before I bumped one off and everything going quiet.
Over the next half hour or so I picked up a couple more roach on the far line and a couple of tiny ones on the inside. The last two fish of the session came right at the bottom of the far run. A couple of silver bream. I couldn't fish any further down as the tree to my right blocked my view. Twenty seven fish for 3lb 7oz. Not a great catch, but fun none the less on the float. It wouldn't have won the match on the Sunday as that was won with 30lb+ of bream. In fact I don't think it would have got me a section prize.
A very enjoyable four hours in pleasant sunshine . The only downside was the very vocal lambs on the other side of the river They really were very loud and persistent.
I was surprised to arrive at an empty parking spot so early in the season. It would mean I had the choice of swims over the three miles of river. After careful consideration I picked the first swim I came to. mainly because I couldn't be arsed going much further. Besides this swim had a nice three foot run a rod length out. This river is exceedingly variable in depth ans speed over a very short length. Further out it was a bit slower and five foot deep but the run came to an abrupt halt so far down at a cliff face.
The water was about six inches up and peaty coloured as expected. A 6xNo.4 wire stemmed stick float was set up with the centrepin and a 13' 6" rod. Bait was to be maggots over hemp. It was a lovely sunny afternoon with Kites noisily fly about. I did spend some time trying to get photos of the by listen to their squawking and hoping to judge when they'd glide over the trees into view. This was easier said than done. They seemed to be more inclined to come close when I'd put the phone down and started fishing.
Feeding hemp down stream and maggots in front on alternative casts. It took a little while and some adjustment to the depth before I got my first bite. Several more followed which I couldn't hit before I took two bleak in quick succession. A small dace followed soon after. Then the beasties I'd managed to avoid so far turned up. A pike took the next fish I hooked then one attacked the keepnet.
It took nearly na hour before I started to get bites again. A couple of chublets and a couple of roach before a small perch was engulfed by a good double pike. Time for tea. I kept feeding the swim while I had something to eat and drink.
The next few trots down just produced chewed maggots. A bit of twiddling of the shot and a couple more bleak turned up. I then snagged up, or so I thought. The snag slowly moved upstream and across the river. Whatever it was moved slowly and relentlessly upstream for some thirty yards. I began to think I'd foul hooked whatever it was. A look at the phone showed it to be 19:41. I gained some line but the fish just drifted towards the near bank before setting off upstream and towards the far bank again. It did this a few more times but each time I gained line until I had it just upstream of me. I tested the 3lb hook length to it's limits as I heaved it up to the surface. A barbel around the 7-8lb mark clearly hooked in the mouth. On it's side and a yard from the net it woke up again in typical barbel fashion. Three more times I had it on it's side and close to the net. The third time it shot off very quickly. The first time it had moved faster than walking pace. Somewhere it became lodge in a snag. I put the rod in the rest and waited. A couple of minutes latter the tip dragged over then went slack. The float popped up and I wound in dejected. The hook length had parted in the snag. It was now 20:09.
A cuppa and a replacement hook length and I was back in action. Another small perch then a few chub, roach, and dice followed. I then hooked into what I assume was another barbel. This time though it shot off downstream at great speed before becoming lodged in some tree roots downstream. The hook length quickly parted. Although sunset was still awhile away I decided that was that. I'd struggled for twenty one little fish. I didn't care though. Despite losing a couple of barbel and the annoying pike it had been enjoyable.
The weather forecast for the second day of the season wasn't good. Heavy downpours were predicted. Looking at the rain radar it looked like a trip northwards should miss them. So northwards I went. I arrived in lovely sunshine. The river was nearly a foot up, as expected, and rather peat stained. One problem I'd not thought about was the bankside vegetation which was some way into the river. The 15' rod reached over it though.
I'd brought my Deeper Sonar with me to do the depth finding rather than faffing with a plummet. A cast about with it showed there to be around eight and half foot on the near near third of the river before it slowly increased in depth to ten and a half foot three quarters of the way across. I set up a 7 No.4 alloy stemmed stick float shotted shirt-button style. I then proceeded to catapult out some hemp and maggots onto two lines when disaster struck. The catapult broke at the pouch. Throwing the hemp was OK but I could only just throw the hemp onto the far line I intended to fish.
Another angler came wandering down with the intention of fishing. He just wanted to see what the levels were like. He thought they were OK, but we may struggle to get more than a few fish. He also reckoned we wouldn't see more than a bit of drizzle. By the time he'd got back to his car the heavens had opened. I never saw him again. I think he'd sat in his car then given up. I should probably have done the same at this point. My rather elderly brolly was anything but waterproof. Me and everything else was getting soaked. As trotting was near on impossible I just layed the rig next to the vegetation and sat the rod in the rested and waited for the better weather that was on the horizon. I did try to keep feeding the two swims but really had no idea where the bait was landing.
When the rain eventually stopped I went to lift the float out of the water but it snagged on the vegetation. I gave it a bit of a annoyed tug and the whole lot wrapped itself around the rod tip. Time for something to eat. Re rigged I set about fishing in earnest. The sun had come back, making it quite a nice evening. It was the best part of an hour before I got my first bite which I promptly missed. Half an hour later a second bite which I managed to hit despite a large amount of slack in the line. Something gave a decent bend to the rod. I managed to keep it out of the nearside vegetation and get it in the net. I rather welcome hand sized perch. An other half hour passed before the next bite and in came a very welcome little tommy ruffe.
Two hours two fish. Not the best of going but two more species to the roster. I fished on for another hour for one chewed maggot before the arrival of drizzle suggested I pack up. The rain radar showed heavier rain due. Which arrived as I got in the car.
A rather frustrating days fishing but not a blank so I'll take it.
Today I made my way to the tackle shop for a new brolly and ended up with this rather fetching number that also doubles as an advertising hoarding. So if it doesn't rain again you know who to thank. Along with some bait and a few bits and pieces I also managed to leave with a shiny new feeder rod.
